Andrew Cameron wrote: > Hi All, > > We this is a turn up for us Windows lovers, Linux getting dumped because it > continually crashed and replaced by Windows CE. > > http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,20126379%5E15321%5E%5Enbv%5E > 15306,00.html > > Andrew :)
The problem is that they used a hard-disc based system (Red Hat Linux) in a high vibration, high-G environment - any disc-based operating system would have problems in such a situation as the hard disc heads repeatedly crash into the disc surface. They should have used an embedded version of Linux, running entirely from solid state memory, in the first instance. That's why Windows CE is now working for them - it runs entire from flash memory and doesn't need a hard disc. Tim C > V8 SUPERCAR drivers whizzing around the track at Oran Park in Sydney at the > weekend were kept honest by an in-car surveillance system. > > > Analysis: In the event of an accident, stewards can view footage from inside > the car > A combination of hard driving and aggression causing intentional incidents > on the racetrack prompted organisers in 2004 to mandate use of a digital > video surveillance system. > In the event of an accident, race stewards can view the footage of driver > actions to assess who was at fault. > > The WaveServe system, developed by OpiaVision, records vision from the > windscreen and data in an onboard computer registers on a black-box > recorder. > > "The feedback is that there has been a distinct drop in incidents that were > intentional," OpiaVision director Clive Swatton says. > > The technology was originally based on the Red Hat Linux operating system > but system reliability and adequate support were problems, Swatton says. > > "An application running inside a V8 supercar needs to be able to deal with a > lot of vibration and shock." > > The Linux-based system running on a hard drive in the car crashed regularly, > taking it about 10 minutes to reboot. > > Swatton says the system was not starting when it was booted up and "it was > then coming up with odd problems that were random and unexplained". > > Up to 40 per cent of the devices had trouble tracking the causes of > incidents in the cars and with 31 systems running simultaneously during a > race, that was a major problem, he says. > > A decision was taken to move to another operating system and Mr Swatton says > a Windows CE 5.0 environment has resolved most problems. > > "There is an issue with how the operating system interfaces with the > hardware," he says. > > It is not very flexible with new hardware, so only a limited range of > motherboards are used with the system. > > Swatton says the company is working on a second generation of the system and > other touring car and rally car organisations have shown interest. > > The Australian > > > _______________________________________________ > Gpcg_talk mailing list > [email protected] > http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk > _______________________________________________ Gpcg_talk mailing list [email protected] http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk
